As of yesterday, many entertainment news outlets lit up with stories that Ridley Scott's Prometheus 2 (which begins filming this upcoming January) had officially put Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 on hold for the time being and was purposefully being held back while production on Prometheus 2 continued. The initial report came from Bloody-Disgusting.com, where they claimed an insider close to the Alien 5 project revealed to them the following:
“Alien 5 is still very much in the works, as Fox remains hot on the idea,” our regular tipster tells us. “Blomkamp continues to work on the script (only an outline existed previously) and refine the tale he is telling. Ridley Scott is still producing, but has insisted on Prometheus 2 being made first.”
Earlier in a previous article, B-D.com insinuated that Alien 5 was going to enter 'development hell' all together and that we may never see the film actually grace the big screen. However as of recent, director Neill Blomkamp himself squashed these notions by replying to a fan on Twitter:
@TonyJDoherty negative
— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) August 18, 2015
It makes sense that Alien 5 will release after Prometheus 2. With filming set to begin on the Prometheus follow-up beginning this January, Alien 5 will continue to undergo script tweaks until Fox decides on a concrete release date. Filming for Alien 5 will likely begin mid-late 2016 if all goes well.
The good news is that Alien 5 is happening. Our best guess is the film will be set for a release date sometime during the summer of 2018. As more details are released, we'll be sure to keep you updated.
Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 project was inevitably canceled following the merger between 20th Century Fox and Disney. Blomkamp had hoped to revive characters Hicks and Ripley for a new film, rewriting the Alien timeline, chalking up Alien 3 and Resurrection to mere bad dreams. Studio executives decided to can the project and instead took the franchise in a new direction, tapping Fede Alvarez to direct Alien: Romulus.
Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 is indefinitely shelved.
